


Fooling Nate—The It Could Never Happen Job

by crayonbreakygal



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-12
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-08-22 02:35:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8269438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: Sophie could never fool Nate.  And what really happened between Sterling and Sophie in Rome all those years ago.  Takes place during and after The Frame Up Job, season five.





	

Fooling Nate—The It Could Never Happen Job

Takes place during and after The Frame Up Job, season five

She thought she’d fooled him.  It was the shoes, the damn shoes.  Was she getting sloppy?  No way those shoes went with that casual of an outfit.  Besides, the sound they made against the wood floor in the office clued him in that she was lying to him.  Nate should have realized that going to that film festival was just a way to get him to not figure out what she was up to.  It didn’t take him long to figure out where she was going.  A little detective work went a long way in figuring out her destination.

Art theft. Her specialty.  It wasn’t like she hadn’t stolen other things. She had.  Jewelry.  Money.  Everything under the sun that was portable and was worth millions.  She’d keyed in on this one place that had a collection of paintings by one artist, Mettier.  She’d never been interested in one artist before.  Sure, she had favorites.  Degas had always sung to her, which made for a favorite target.  This artist, there was something about him that she was not telling him. 

He was surprised that she hadn’t noticed him sooner.  As he listened to her tell the son of the millionaire who she was, he chuckled.  Never a dull moment with Sophie Devereaux.  Nate didn’t believe a word she was saying.  Once they were down in the basement and saw that the painting was missing, he most definitely didn’t believe a word she was saying.  She somehow knew exactly what was missing. The interesting thing though was the fact that she was upset.  Then it hit him. She wasn’t responsible for the removal of the painting.  How did it get out of the vault then?

If Jim Sterling hadn’t shown up, then they could have solved the issue much faster.  Having to deal with his nemesis though put him in a better mood.  Dealing with Sterling was a challenge that was for sure.  But not as challenging as finding out what was the mystery surrounding the painting in which Sophie was so adamant.  There had to be something special about it.  She wouldn’t be keeping it a mystery if there wasn’t something special.

The day had started off beautiful, but as the sun skirted in and out of the clouds, Nate could see the sun shower coming as they made it to the barn.  They would at least be covered while they contemplated the issues dealing with whether all the paintings were forgeries or not.  The look of sadness in Sophie’s eyes said it all.  She was expecting something else to happen.  It had to be that they all were fakes. No doubt about it.  They all matched.  But that was not why Sophie was sad, tears forming in her eyes.

“Hey.”

“It’s just, I was so sure and then this one was found.  I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I.”

“There is one thing I want you to know.”

Sophie slowly walked over to where Nate was standing, looking down at the painting that was most definitely a fake.

“Thank you for trusting me. The old you would have figured out a way to force me to tell the truth.”

“And the new me?”

“Looks rakishly handsome in that suit.”

Sophie took his hand and pulled him toward her, wrapping her hand around his neck.

“The old me didn’t look rakishly handsome?”

“Oh no, darling.  I wasn’t supposed to look back then.”

“Bet you did.”

Nate had loved how they related to each other now.  They were on the same level, both in control, both loving where they’d landed.

“Maybe just a little.”

Her mouth still tasted like the bourbon she’d downed earlier that day. 

“We need Sterling.”

“Not a sentence I’ve ever wanted to hear come out of your mouth.”

He felt her jump as his lips grazed her pulse point on her neck. The dress was gloriously short, so it didn’t take much for his hands to skim her thighs, eliciting a sigh from her as he did.

“We should tell,” Sophie panted out.

“Shh.  No talk of the mean man.”

“You mean evil Nate?”

Nate chuckled against her neck.

“I don’t think that evil Nate could do this to you.”

The moan that came out of her mouth as his fingers touched her through her silky underwear.

“Not here,” she whispered in his ear.

“Then where?”

Sophie took his hand in hers, looking left and right until she found a closed door.  Their luck held because it was a storage room with a table and some chairs. Much cleaner than the barn was.  Leaning her up against the table, Nate dropped to his knees. He just hoped in all this he didn’t ruin another suit.  He tended to go through them. At least if he ruined this one, it would be a pleasant memory.

The silk she had on was already soaked.  As he pushed it aside, he heard her groan out his name. He would never get used to her saying his name while he pleasured her.  It shot straight to his groin when she did.  As she grabbed his hair, she yanked him up to place a heated kiss on his mouth, then his neck. 

“Soph?”

“I want you.  Now.”

“Demanding.”

Sophie lay back on the table, not worrying about how dirty it was.  Her legs spread wide as his pants dropped to his knees.  She giggled as she watched him roll down the condom and thrust into her as fast as he could.

“Always prepared,” she groaned as he sped up the pace.

He could never get over how she looked as she came, mouth open, eyes shut tight.  As he buried his face in her neck, he felt the familiar build up as she urged him on through wrapping her legs around his back.  The high that she gave him was better than the booze, better than taking any bad guy down.  He’d relish every day with her now, even when sometimes it didn’t go right for them.  

Breathing heavily, he collapsed onto her, placing light kisses on her neck as his body attempted to recover.

“This table is very uncomfortable,” she finally said, pushing on him to get up.

“Your choice.”

“I didn’t want to wait.”

“You most certainly didn’t.”

After rearranging their clothes, Nate went out to get the two paintings so they could take them back to Sterling. He’d be angry with the both of them, but it was so much fun tweaking the man.

 

“So this is the painting?”

“And if she hears that you’ve seen it…”

“She’ll unman you and come after me to finish me off.  Nate.  Do you realize?”

“Realize what?  What I was missing?  Every single damn day.”

“Maggie know?”

“That I lusted after Sophie?  I have no idea.  I never strayed.”

“Damn Catholic mentality. Kind of glad you did, well didn’t stray I mean.”

Nate handed him a drink.  Sterling just smiled at him.

“Is it true?”

“Is what true?”

“Maggie told me something I’d rather not believe.”

Sterling grinned over his glass.

“Not sure what you’re getting at, Nate?”

“Bastard.”

“Still.  She looks much better now.”

Sterling shifted just slightly.  And so did Nate.  The door opened to two women’s voices.  Nate rolled his eyes, but led Sterling out into the living area.  Sophie stood with her arms crossed over her front, glaring at him.  Maggie looked from person to person wondering what was going on.

“You promised me.”

“He got lost on the way to the bathroom.”

“Promised you what?” Maggie asked.

Sterling shook his head in delayed agreement.  “Better.”

Maggie narrowed her eyes at Sterling, not knowing what the three were discussing with just looks.

“Will someone tell me what is going on?”

“Dammit, Nate.  Oh come on.  Might as well show you.  Eventually, once I’m dead and buried, it will need to be curated.”

“Curated? What do you have, Sophie? And are you going to let me see?”

The twinkle in Maggie’s eyes was unmistakable.  Nate knew that look from long ago.  Sophie waved her on to follow her into the bedroom.

“Still, I just don’t see it,” Nate said as the two men stood waiting for the ladies to reappear.

“See what?”

“You?  With her?”

“I saw her first. Remember?”

“You ogled her first.  I actually dated her first. And married her first.”

“Well, you cocked that up, now didn’t you?”

The men were standing toe to toe now, close to throwing punches until Sterling finally smiled and backed away.

“Not sure I have the stamina if you cock it up with Sophie. So don’t.”

Nate rolled his eyes, knowing that Sterling just wanted to avoid a conversation on all that went wrong with how Nate and Maggie ended their marriage.

“When?”

“When did I start to date Maggie?  Let’s see.  We talked when we were in Prague. Seemed some asshole kissed her, then left her to stew.  Then she realize how fucked up that was.  Called me out of the blue a few months later.  We had coffee. Coffee turned into dinner.  Not going to bore you with the rest.”

“My fault?  We thought we were going to die.”

“Well, you didn’t.  My luck that you didn’t.”

Nate felt like punching the smug man in front of him.  Sterling always did like to gloat when he won something.

“So when we did the job in Dubai?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of discretion? No, wait. You haven’t.  Now that you’ve hooked up with the art thief.  I wonder how many times she’s convinced you to have sex in public?”

“Sterling?” he growled back.

The two women returned to the living room, looking between the men.

“Men,” Maggie said as she poured herself a drink.

“These two,” Sophie returned as she slightly leaned up against Maggie.

Nate turned his head just so, looking at Sophie to ask her what was up.

“Let’s go, Jim. You promised.”

“Promised?  Oh, that.  I did, did I not?”

Nate watched as Maggie tugged on Sterling’s arm, steering him out of their apartment.  He really hadn’t wanted to see her hand drift down to Sterling’s backside, but he did.  Pounding his head a little against the closed door, he turned to watch Sophie as she took a sip of her wine.

“So?”

“Maggie loved the work.  But please do not show anyone else. Particularly the team.  I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“I didn’t intend to show Sterling.  Curious bastard.”

“Speaking of curious.  Maggie told me that she and Sterling are having an intimate relationship.”

“Oh, that.  Just found out myself.”

As she sat her wine down, her hands came up around his neck.

“And that doesn’t bother you?”

“Not sure. He’s not good enough for her.”

“And you were?”

“No, not at all.  She sure does know how to pick ‘em.”

“I think she has excellent taste.”

“How so?”

Nate wondered what on earth Sophie was thinking. Then it hit him full force.  “You didn’t?”

“Didn’t what?”

Nate closed his eyes, now realizing what he never would have suspected all those years ago.  Sterling’s animosity toward Sophie had to be more than work driven.  She’d somehow played him, probably in a sexual nature to get him to have this grudge that lasted more than a decade.

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t do a thing.  Sure, I bested him, took the David, making him look like a fool.”

“Sophie. Confess.”

“Oh, alright.  As I made off with the David, he was sitting naked in his hotel, tied to the bed.  Probably frustrated beyond belief too.”

Nate did not want that image burned into his head, but there it was.

“I had heard of you, but he was my target that day in Rome.  I had him wrapped around my finger.”

“And he saw you naked.”

“I had to complete the con.  Now you see why every time we meet he brings up old grudges.”

“At least he didn’t get handcuffed in a brothel.”

“There is that.  But you weren’t naked.”

“Thank goodness.”

Nate shifted in her arms, hands on her hips. She was warm and smelled of wine and expensive perfume.  He buried his head in her neck, tasting as her fingers slid through his hair.

“Nothing happened. You know that, don’t you?”

“Not your type?”

“Definitely not,” she moaned as he hit a sensitive spot on her shoulder.  “He was fun to play with.”

“Was I fun to play with?”

“Not only fun.  You fueled many a fantasy.”

“Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?” he asked as he backed her up to the sofa, gently urging her down so he could lie on top of her.

“The real thing is so much better.”

He could just imagine her, legs spread wide on her bed, fingers thrusting in and out, her other hand pinching her nipple hard. He groaned as she grabbed him through his clothes.

“Maybe later you could show me just exactly what you did on those long, lonely nights.”

She shivered underneath him.


End file.
